This invention relates to an automatic control system for a clothes dryer and more specifically to a microprocessor-based system which is designed to vary the levels of air flow rate and heat input rate to achieve desirable clothes drying performance at reduced energy usage levels as compared with prior art dryers.
It is known to provide clothes dryers with variable heat control, either of the sort that changes for different stages in the drying cycle or at the selection of the user depending on the nature of the clothes fabrics being dried. It is also known to use a reduced volume flow rate of air through the drum to provide fast warm-up during the initial portion of the drying cycle and also to use reduced air flow rates at the terminal portion of the cycle. There is not believed to be, however, a dryer control system that continually monitors temperature conditions in the dryer so as to control simultaneously both heat input and volume flow rates throughout the drying cycle in such a manner as to achieve as rapid a drying performance as possible without undue risk to the clothes fabric.